


Cursed

by DestinyFreeReally



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-11
Updated: 2016-10-28
Packaged: 2018-08-14 01:58:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7994452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DestinyFreeReally/pseuds/DestinyFreeReally
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A very loose almost-Van Helsing-ish AU. I... love the movie and wanna make it work. Family cursed into monster hunting, outside help... Also we're gonna get into some conjecture about what Dolls is. I don't have a ton of experience writing Nicole but I'm gonna try cause I think she could be really cool here. And the Earp sisters..... good times, let's shoot some demons.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

     With the crackle of autumn leaves under her boots, she ran after a set of glowing eyes and sharp teeth. Wynonna Earp chased the beast through the woods, running after it with all the lung-burning speed she could muster. It was only one of the many she was born to kill, one of the many that had risen again, determined to kill her and exterminate what was left of her family. She'd probably lose it in the woods, the demon, like she had before, or maybe she'd kill another demon stooge, if she got lucky. If she got unlucky, she knew she might get dead. After all, she _was_ cursed. And not with blazing speed, she found. Pausing to lean against a tree after a while of running fruitlessly, Wynonna listened to the woods as dusk settled in around her, putting a chill in the air. She could no longer hear or see the demon up ahead and rolled her eyes. Dark was a dinner bell to these things, she didn't dare let Peacemaker, the only thing that could stop them, stay in its ankle holster for the long walk back to the Homestead. Hunting in the day was risky, but hunting at night was dangerous. In the quiet, even as she walked towards the Homestead, forbidden ground to monsters as baddies, she heard snarling creep up behind her. She tried not to roll her eyes, again, as everything in her body was screaming at her to fight this thing, even in the dark.   
   
     "We gonna do this tonight? I do have other plans, you know." She called into the woods and scowled. Listening to ruffling leaves, billowing grass...  
  
     A droplet of goo dripped down on her shoulder from the trees, landing with a _plop_. Throwing her head back, she caught a glimpse of the monster above her.   
       
     "Really? Drool? Do you know how hard that is to scrub out?" She fired the gun into the tree above her, still moving her feet back towards the Homestead now that it was almost completely dark. "Now you _haveta_ die."  
  
     She fired the gun again, chasing the demon around the branches of the tree with bullets; it growled when she finally launched one in its shoulder, and in its clamor to the next tree she shot it down. Bleeding and gurgling, the thing still looked a nasty mix of half-monster, half-human, glowing eyes and foaming mouth. Well, the curse definitely told her what to do next.  
  
    "Make your peace," She stood over it and fired a bullet straight into its skull, fighting a flinch at the flicker of light and life in its eyes, before Hell itself opened to the claim the monster for home. Wynonna turned back to her Homestead. Those other plans, stiff malt liquor promising to hit her like a ton of bricks, was calling her home.   
  
    This was the third night Wynonna had hunted. Since her 27th birthday, a day she had been dreading since the death of her father, she'd made a go of being the thing that hunts the monsters in Purgatory. Her efforts hadn't been flawless, losing a few demons in the woods, losing a few townspeople to the dark. There would be more demons, more to fight and kill, tomorrow, and every day after that. She'd probably die fighting demons, like most of her family for the last hundreds of years. Hell, that made her want to drink.  


	2. Chapter 2

"What do you know of the Earp curse?" Father Basil welcomed him in, straight to business, as usual.

     Xavier Dolls, had been pulled off a mission, to be called back into the ~~UnH~~ oly offices of Rome. Second nature to him, the tunnels along the underbelly of the Vatican, the physical reminder of his every day secret, with its added twists and turns. Down here, the ancient texts studied were about vampires, and monster half-breeds; about rituals where Devils were brought to Earth.   
  
    Through his jacket pocket, he traced the edges of a piece of parchment snatched from the streets of Rome. A  _Wanted_ poster, of him. If Dolls was proud of anything about his occupation, he could usually pride himself on his discreet nature. This  _Wanted_ poster was something that offended that reputation; he wondered when his bosses would mention it. 

     "The Earp curse?" Dolls repeated, coolly reminding himself that there was to be a next job. "Not so much.Whispers of a cursed ancestor with cursed Heirs. A family of monster hunters doomed to die by the same monsters." 

     He could hear the bustle of the secret catacombs, the undercity of duality where secret wasn't. Technically, this part of the Vatican didn't exist. This sect of religious leaders weren't existent, and they hadn't taken him as an infant and trained him to fight demons and monsters that didn't exist. 

     "This heir, Wynonna Earp, has a complicated past all her own, and her 27th birthday just occurred, enacting the curse anew. If she doesn't exterminate all the demons before they kill her..." The Elder traced a finger over a piece of paper on his desk. 

     "What?" Dolls prompted, uncharacteristically. "What happens if she dies before she kills them all?" He wasn't unfamiliar with curses. Some were just folklore, some had bearing. If the Holy Elders had thought it important enough for him to switch missions in the middle... this one was probably serious. 

     "Well, we aren't sure. There isn't another generation of Earps. The Elders think if the Heir is killed, all the demons her ancestors were cursed with may be unleashed from Hell, forever, free to scourge the world in chaos and blood." Father Basil made the sign of the cross over himself, a quick prayer for Dolls, and the world. And the monsters who were once human. A quick prayer for the centuries of the Earp family. "There is another thing, Xavier. Another matter, more  _personal._ "   
  
     Dolls waited for the Father to continue.  
  
      "The Earps, Wynonna Earp and her sister... where they live, stories exist from the time of their ancestor about beings with..." The Father cleared his throat. "Eyes that turn colors, like yours. I know God sent you to us, to the Elders, for a reason in your infancy. And you've done well atoning for sins you can't remember, and fighting a nature you don't understand."  
  
      Nodding, Dolls picked a spot on the floor to inspect with his eyes. It was scuffed, a lackluster patch in the marble flooring.   
  
     "While in Purgatory, perhaps you will find answers to your own heritage." The Father finished, and Dolls looked up, already strapping his weapons back to himself.   
  
    "Their home is called  _Purgatory?"_ Dolls sucked a tooth. He was hardly superstitious, not in his line of work. But that just  _sounded_ like a bad place to be, and an especially bad place to be cursed.   
  
     "The Elders insist you take help on this mission, Xavier. You've been introduced to a young student, Nicole Haught? She's been helping some of the clergy with research and developing weapons. She's a talented fighter and a bright, young girl. She'll be an asset, despite limited....  _field_ experience." In truth, Father Basil had recommended Nicole join Xavier on this mission. Someone to  _remind_ him that discretion was necessary; the Elders had heard talk of Dolls gaining a reputation in Europe as a madman and murderer. Nicole understood that they were the last line of defense, the line the Devil couldn't cross into humanity.   
  
     "She's never seen anything unnatural with her own eyes?" Dolls met the Father's eyes. "Aren't we an odd pairing, then."


	3. Chapter 3

     Pouring tea for the strangers who had tried to politely refuse, Waverly Earp eyed them cautiously, trying to parse out the story they were telling. They looked disheveled, and road-weary, like they had traveled for days, which interested her. Visitors to Purgatory were rare, rarer still visitors to the Homestead. But Waverly knew _exactly_ why not all could be welcome.  
  
     "So you, Xavier-"   
  
     "Please, call me Dolls," The man interrupted, Waverly figured about as cordially as he could muster.  
  
    " _Right_ , so you, Dolls, are _the_ Xavier Dolls? The wanted one, that Europe wants to hang? Oh, I _knew_ there was something about the paper clippings about you I liked. People are scared of you, you know. But everywhere you go murder seems to stop when you leave, things that plagued villages stop plaguing them. And who are you? Do you _do_ this, too, should I recognize your name?" Waverly bubbled in confused excitement, turning to Dolls' pretty, redheaded companion. He'd done most of the talking for both of them, but she'd done most of the smiling.   
  
     "Uh- I'm Nicole. Haught. Mostly before now I've only dealt with the fully human kind of evil. Oh, or books. But I- I want to help your family. Protect you, keep you safe. Oh, and end the curse. We're here to help." Nicole tugged some stray strands of red hair behind her ear. If Waverly was still unsure of what to make of the stern mystery Xavier Dolls, she felt sure about his partner Nicole, no matter how new she was.   
  
      Dolls cleared his throat, drawing their attention back to him.   
  
    "Where is your sister, Waverly? I'd like to speak to the Heir before I go out hunting." Dolls wasn't sure what to make of the youngest Earp, except that Nicole looked half in love with her just over half a cup of tea. The Homestead was, less than Dolls has anticipated, truthfully. The land was large, and from what Waverly intimated protected, but the land looked bare and the home structure looked fragile.  
  
     " _Hunting_ , oh. Well, I'm not sure how much help you'll be hunting. You see, the Revenants have to be killed by the Heir, with our ancestor's gun. Part of the," she waved her hand, "curse. Not much leeway in that, believe me, I've been trying. And Wynonna doesn't always...play well with others. Not that you seem to," she saw him stare at her, "from your reputation, of course." Waverly swore she saw Nicole smiling for a second and wondered if smiling was against the ancient Holy Orders' Official Law.   
  
X X X   
  
     The Revenant she'd found burrowed like a tick in the Purgatory woods kicked off Wynonna's chest, sending her reeling back while he tried to crawl away.   
  
     "Thanks for the bruised ribs, asshole." She didn't _necessarily_ want to kill this one. She needed information, even from certainly unreliable, demonic sources. Other demons had mentioned Bobo del Rey, as their head demon. Wynonna reached for this Revenant, as he struggled just out of her grasp. Cocking Peacemaker, she cleared her throat as he stood, his back still to her.  
  
     "Turn around before I count to three or that leg's going to get a whole lot holier." Throwing his hands up, the demon turned, almost looking human, despite the blood and spittle trickling from his mouth where Wynonna had landed some of her best punches.   
  
     "What can you tell me about Bobo del Rey?" The gun still trained on the Revenant's face, Wynonna inched closer. "Bobo? He's crazier'n all of us. But crazy smart. You should just kill me now, girlie, I'd rather die'n help an Earp." The thing smiled an uneasy smile, showing cracked, yellow-almost-green teeth.  
  
     "O _kay_." Wynonna sighed, taking a step closer, ready to pull the trigger, before the Revenant dropped back to his knees and acquiesced.   
  
     "Don't shoot, don't shoot, alright. Bobo has a plan for you and your sisters. He says once we kill the Heir and eat your insides like pudd'n, we'll all be free to roam as we please, like before Wyatt put us down, and then you'll be the ones caught between living and Hell." Still aiming the gun down at his head, Wynonna didn't have any warm, fuzzy feelings about Hell. And she was never going to let anything happen to Waverly. She'd already let her get way too involved in this already.   
  
     "I only have _one_ sister left," Wynonna spoke through grit teeth. "So, do you wanna live or die? If you pick live, I shoot you in the leg and send you home, crying to Mama del Rey about how the Earp bitch was mean to you, and you bring me back Bobo del Rey's big plans for vengeance against the Earps. Or if you pick die you, you know...you _die_."


	4. Chapter 4

        Restless and unfamiliar horses were tied to the Homestead's posts, making a slightly injured Wynonna reach for Peacemaker, again. Revenants might not be allowed in Earpland anymore, but Wynonna was beginning to suspect not everything that wanted to kill her would be so explicitly bad in nature. Or even local, for that matter.   
  
     "Baby girl?" She called into the house, leaning against the door before kicking it open with her already-sore leg.   
  
     "Uh- _Wynonna_ -" Waverly smiled tight, Wynonna saw a redhead slightly taken aback behind her.   
  
       "Friend of yours?" Wynonna leaned against the wall, eyes still on the stranger as she undid her boots. The girl had a cup of tea, had obviously been welcomed in, and one of the horses was probably hers. Barely trying to hold back a sigh, Wynonna concentrated a glare on Waverly. "Can I _talk_ to you for a second?"  
  
     "Mmm....can we talk later? Nicole's boss just, uh...went out into the field to find you. I told him to wait, that it was dangerous and you'd be back soon, but who listens to me?" Waverly smiled small, looking almost apologetic and Wynonna realized what the problem with baby sisters was. Even when you wanted to kill them they were just so darn cute.  
  
     "Nicole's _boss_?" Wynonna blinked at Nicole. "Is he an idiot? _Wiiiiith_ a big 'ole Hellish death wish?"  
  
     Nicole winced, looking to Waverly.   
  
     "Maybe one of two of those. I'm still not entirely sure myself. We've been sent-"   
  
    Wynonna cut off Nicole's explanation.  
  
    "Later. Or maybe never. Gonna find your boss, save him or shoot him myself, whichever's easier, and then you guys can go on back where you came from. Way back to who sent you." Wynonna saw Waverly's decidedly disapproving face as she pulled the door closed behind her on her way back out.  
  
  
     Wynonna could definitely see her breath now, and she was sure only her white-knuckle rage was keeping her anywhere in the realm of warm. The curse was hard enough to manage when she only had Waverly and herself to immediately worry about.   
  
       Going further away from the Homestead, she wondered what had gone so horribly wrong in a past life. _Or this one_ , her mind bit. That line of thought never lead her anywhere near sober.  
  
     She thought she heard something towards the edge of the treeline, scanning for a visual was almost futile in the dark. Tonight's moon wasn't visible or helpful, and Wynonna figured _that_ would be her luck.   
  
     When the commotion stopped as she neared, Wynonna was afraid maybe she was too late, but then gunshots rang out a little further ahead, spurring her to run towards the noise, Peacemaker drawn.   
  
     A Revenant finally appeared in the dark first, mouth and shoulder bloody, backed up and bent over against a tree. What a minute, was that...  
  
    "You again! You son of a bitch!" Wynonna charged forward, pressing Peacemaker against the wounded Revenants head, burning a smoking indent between his eyes. The night Wynonna turned 27, over a week ago now, this Rev had been waiting, just outside the Homestead, sneak-attacking her before dawn. While she'd managed to get away, he'd clawed her with his gross hangnails, and shaken her up, before running away himself. "Have fun in Hell."  
  
     The shot echoed through the trees as the crackle of Hellfire swallowed the Revenant down.  
  
    "So that's how that works, huh?" Xavier Dolls stepped out of a shadow, gun still drawn cautiously, not sure what to make of the Heir, so far.   
  
    Wynonna spun to face him, Peacemaker inches from his face; she was surprised when he didn't blink, and didn't shoot her.   
  
   A howl through the night broke their eye contact in the dark, and Dolls relaxed his stance as Wynonna dropped Peacemaker from his eye level. She saw the Revenant had scratched his arm too, ripped through the leather and lining of his overcoat.   
  
    "You Nicole's boss?" Wynonna waited for him to holster his gun. "She said you've ' _been_ _sent_ ,' does that mean to kill me?" Her voice rang sad and tired to him and he could almost feel bad for her if she hadn't just had a gun on him. Dolls hadn't met many monster hunters, let alone women who faced beasts as a daily task, like him. Let alone cursed women. Holstering his gun, he offered her a  half-smile.


	5. Chapter 5

     "So what, your life's just one day of shit-reeking demons after the next? That _sucks_ , dude. No wonder you've got something stuck way up your-" Wynonna's eyes intimated she silently chided herself, even though he looked  _almost_ amused. Almost. A  _hint_ of a smile that could've actually just been a trick of shadow or a twitch in his cheek. Feeling him trying to size her up, Wynonna almost felt the small frenzy of insecurity. Everyone in Wynonna's world's mind was pretty much made up about her, no one had freshly judged her in a long time, and she wasn't sure she missed the feeling. She'd been trying her best with the curse, with Revenants, even to be a better sister, and it was uncomfortable to have someone stride in the middle of all that _trying_ and try to put those jagged pieces of puzzle together.

      Dolls mentally noted she seemed some degree of guarded, even as she shrugged her uneasiness away like the cold. Ordinarily, there wasn't much conversation on his missions.  To listen to the Heir talk was a breath of fresh air for him; if a _dramatic_ breath of fresh air. She talked with her hands, with her eyes, hair swinging. The innuendo and shadow Dolls was accustomed to, even cultivated himself, was shattered in these woods, replaced by brazen honesty, even if she made it clear she didn't entirely trust him, it was clear she knew no other way to be. _Easy_ , Dolls nodded to himself, barely recognizing the notion. The walk back to the Homestead had come close to being quiet and uneventful.  
  
    "And anyway, I told you, I don't need your help," she reminded him, seemingly unnecessarily, as she casually mentioned it a number of times on the way back. Didn't  _want_  his help would've also been applicable. But as little as she knew about Xavier Dolls, which _was_ only a little, Wynonna  _had_ seen what he did to a Revenant, even without Peacemaker. The only non-Earp to shoot a Revenant in what Waverly could probably estimate to the hundreds of years. She could be impressed and a little weary all at once, she decided. And she could be relieved when he was gone, his little ginger puppy with him. It wasn't stubborn to refuse his help it was... For the best, she decided. For everyone.   
  
     " _Shh-"_ Dolls jabbed his fingertips at Wynonna's shoulder, stopping her and her thoughts of hot food and cold drinks _finally_ , while turning back to the woods.   
  
    "What?" Wynonna whispered, listening for whatever he was listening for.   
  
    "You hear that?" Even in the dark of the Purgatory night Wynonna could see the whites of his eyes go big, as they listened to howls echoing through the woods. She could only figure that wasn't a great sign. Dolls mind calculated, what he could handle, what he could expose to the Heir- but right now, the Heir _was_ exposed. Her life- breaking the curse- had to be the first priority.  "Wynonna...  _Run."  
  
  
_    He grabbed her roughly by the elbow, running them both back towards the Homestead, and again Wynonna was reminded how  _sore_ her leg was from today's demon-filled, stranger-filled,  _running-filled_ events. She tried to look back, but the moonless night offered her nothing but wolf shrieks, and she rolled her eyes against the ache in her leg. Tonight was probably so far from over.   
  
    They clamored up the porch steps, Dolls shoving Wynonna the whole way, practically pushing her into the house, startling Nicole and Waverly.   
  
    "Dolls-"  
  
    "Wynonna-"   
  
    Both started at the same time, and both shyly relented. Outside commotion startled Waverly into grabbing a gun from the kitchen cabinet.   
  
    "Stay inside, stay low-" Dolls started.   
  
    "Uh, I'm coming with you. This is my home, it's my job to protect my family. We've never seen wolves on our land. There's... _stories_ , of them working with Revenants, centuries ago, when the curse first... Daddy never said he like...  _actually saw one."_ Wynonna already had Peacemaker out, feeding in bullets, fighting off a sense of breathlessness.   
  
   "Wait... wolves? Like... Lycanthrope? Wynonna-" Waverly went to the window, full of energy- nervous and otherwise.   
  
   "Got anything with a little more firepower?" Nicole eyed Peacemaker, and Waverly's shotgun, hands feeling empty and unsure. Lycanthrope like... werewolves? They were just people how could they... werewolves?

    "Oh, you are going to just _love_ the shed." With a chipperness she couldn't stop if she tried, Waverly led Nicole abruptly by the wrist, out the side door to an outbuilding. 

   "Oh, my god," Nicole blinked at the makeshift structure of rotting plywood and rusted nails containing a magnitude and variety of arms even the Vatican underbelly could covet. "So, uh, what does this do?"

     Holding up something heavier than it looked, Nicole marveled at it's two triggers and four, straight, skinny barrels. Eyes sparkling over, Waverly nodded gingerly. 

    "You're gonna love that, I made it myself." Her hand lingered on Nicole's back for a second, before she pulled it back to pluck another weapon out, a simple big-barrel, and a tin full of ammo. Hearing the shatter of glass, and Wynonna cursing furiously, Nicole squeezed Waverly's hand tight over the gun, right before she saw black. 

    

 

 

      "Dolls?" Wynonna was sprawled on the floor on her back, shooting up at the hulking, twelve foot, hairy wolf-man who was taking bullets to his body like a best-in-show. "You remember when I was saying that thing about not needing your help?"

     Tucked behind a wall, Dolls could hear her panicked calling, rushing him. Swiftly, armed with years of careful practice, Dolls pulled the emptied injector from his neck, sucking in his breath with urgency, vision stunted for a second. When the world reentered steady focus, he searched his other pack for silver bullets, ready to finally test a theory he knew why his bosses where extremely interested in. Wiping a bead of sweat from his brow, he charged back into the main room, where a wolf was on top of Wynonna thrashing wildly. 

     No time to say a prayer, or a farewell to any private fears, Dolls fired two shiny silver bullets into the werewolf, until it stopped spasming, eventually shrinking back down to appear as a bloody, bullet-ridden human corpse. A bloody, bullet-ridden human corpse that was still heavily loaded on top of Wynonna. She yelped Dolls into action again, as she dragged her way out from under the mess, trying to lightly shove it off of her. Shaken, regretfully Wynonna handed him Peacemaker while she pulled herself up off the floor. 

      He looked her over, steadying her with a heavy hand to her shoulder. Minor scrapes and purpled bruises showed, among the splatter of what he could suspect was werewolf blood, staining her clothes and skin. 

     "Well, thanks I guess. Wasn't really looking forward to my next life as dog shit. Where were you? Shit, where's Waverly?" Snatching Peacemaker back, Wynonna led them out to the courtyard between the main house and the weapons shed. 

    Rushing through the side door, the world froze so suddenly for Wynonna Earp that Dolls crashed into her, not that she noticed.

    "Will- Willa?" Wynonna had been young the last time she- and it was _dark_ , but she felt like she was seeing a ghost. A ghost with a gun to their baby sister's head. 

    "Oh, so someone _does_  actually remember me? This one couldn't even recognize her own flesh and blood." Willa shook Waverly bitterly, gun still tight to her temple. 

    Nicole had been hit first, with the butt of Willa's gun, and once she was struck down Willa had gone after Waverly. Now, Nicole had her homemade-Earp-gun trained on Willa, and a throbbing knot on the back of her head. 

     "Will- how are you even- what're you _doing_?" Roughly, Wynonna reminded herself to pick up her gun, fighting herself to point it at Willa. 

     "I'm here with a proposition. I remember you being a tough little girl." Willa laughed, short and harsh. "What're you going to, Wynonna? _Shoot_ me?"

     Dolls watched Wynonna flinch like she had been struck, both hands shaking on Peacemaker, struggling to keep it pointed forward-

    "It's in your best interest to put the gun down, Miss." Dolls stepped forward, cautious, not missing the daggers Wynonna's eyes were shooting him as she tore her eyes away from her sisters. 

    He was all strong jaw, tough face, as she felt herself continue to shake, she bit her lip, embarrassed.

    Willa sighed.

    "I'm trying to talk to my _sisters_ , thank you. And if anyone would _listen_ , I'm proposing a trade. The runt," her voice rang dark gesturing at Waverly, "for the Heir." Dolls' internal alarms rang fiercely. A breath of silence passed where Dolls thought Wynonna was figuring another way. 

   "Fine." Wynonna breathed, resigned eyes looking at the ground, where all Dolls' attention didn't tell him anything. Stepping forward, Wynonna tried to miss the way Dolls squinted at her. Turning to him, she put Peacemaker in his hands, slow and carefully. Deliberately, she met his eyes, open wide and unblinking. The stranger she'd threatened to shoot, was the man she was now relying on. Bitterly, Wynonna figured at least if he let her down only she'd die, with Waverly still safe. "Find me. It's the only way I can end the curse. And save at least  _one_ , of my sisters." Tears in Wynonna's eyes unsettled Dolls, even as he considered this a really, really poor decision.   
  
    "We will, Wynonna, I will." Dolls whispered back, looked to Nicole, still tense and in-pain, but nodding with him.   
  
    "Come  _on_ , already. Enough with the tearful goodbyes, it's not like you can top  _ours_ , Wynonna." Tossing Waverly into Nicole, Willa turned her attention back to Wynonna. "Stop looking at me like this isn't all squarely  _your fault_ , little sister. Our family may have cursed us, but you did worse than that, didn't you? Come on, there's someone who desperately wants to meet you."   
  
    Gun poking into her back, Wynonna decided she couldn't argue with that and marched into the dark where Willa instructed her. The Heir walked unprotected into the woods at night, and all she could think was,  _shit._


	6. Chapter 6

      "Is it  _really_ necessary that these are so tight?" Wynonna struggled against the ropes binding her hands over her head. She was hanging, dangling really, by her wrists from a tree, rope burning bloody cuts into her hands as she seethed.   
  
      The walk here had been strange; Willa, her sister Willa, pressing a gun to her back and marching her through the woods amidst the howl of wolves and Willa's own taunts. Wynonna's head had spun for awhile- the last time she'd seen Willa, the last time anyone had, Revenants had dragged her off the Homestead, Wynonna shot, screamed, cried out, and tried to help but- when she saw their Daddy go slack, gun in her hand, Wynonna knew she truly  _was_ cursed. Beyond the realm of Earp curse, beyond being the Heir. Maybe she was even the curse herself, she'd later consider. But how was Willa even still alive? Where had she been all this time?  
  
    Trekking through the woods, across acres of barren, frost-wracked land, Wynonna's feet had ached the entire way, and her hip missed Peacemaker. But Wynonna would've walked another  _thousand_ acres if she knew what was waiting for her when they finally stopped. It was like remembering a dream; she knew she'd been here before, as a young child, with her father and Willa- the day their daddy had told them about the Earp curse. Now, a man with a toothy-smile and ringed fingers introduced himself as Bobo del Rey, the resident Big Shit Revenant (as Wynonna was calling him), and she was being tied to a tree just a little ways away from a makeshift shelter.   
  
    There were so many of them, she couldn't count, but dozens of  _them_ , Revenants, demons with glowing eyes and haunted, crazed smiles, salivating over having the Heir in their midst. Wynonna wasn't sure of much, if she could even break the curse at all, but the way Bobo was smiling at her made her want to live more than anything; just to kick his teeth in.   
  
     "Of course,  _darling._ We can't have you trying to get away. And you're so much more beautiful when you squirm." Bobo ran his knuckles up against her cheek, having her angling to get away from him. Hoots and snarls from the audience of demons simmered, and Bobo laughed. "Generations of your family, dying at my hands, and now I'll finally be rid of you Earps. Wouldn't your daddy be proud of how his little Wynonna held her own just  _days_ as the Heir? I hope the world knows they'll have you to thank for unleashing us, finally, upon the world."   
  
   He stepped back from her, smiling at how even yards above the ground, now her feet stilled and she barely twitched a muscle; but her eyes never left his face.   
  
     "Remember when you were little, Wynonna? Just a small child, scared of shadow, who didn't think she'd ever matter?" His lips curved into a deeper smile, vexing her even more virulently. "Well, now you can finally have a place in the world. Of course, that place is in ending it; but you  _matter_ , don't you? Don't we all?" Shouts surrounded Wynonna from all sides; he was whipping them up. The end of the world was going to start with the end of her, she struggled against the ropes at her wrists again, shoulders and arms aching at the tug.   
  
     Eyeing the crowd of demons, Wynonna couldn't see any way out of this that she liked the idea of. She spotted Willa, just behind Bobo, eyes hollow with watching or pain or  _something_. Wynonna remembered playing tag with her sister, hair flying back behind them, children- not cursed children, just children; before their daddy had told them, and before their daddy had died.   
  
     "Willa!" Wynonna's scream left her throat before she meant it to, and the roar of the crowd died down a bit. "Willa you know what happened to daddy was an accident- we  _looked_ for you, God, we looked for you  _so much_ , Willa-"  
  
     "You  _trying_ was the exact problem, wasn't it, little sister?" Willa took a place next to Bobo, linking their hands in a way that made Wynonna queasy. "I'm not cursed anymore, Wynonna, and I'll never be again after your death frees all of us from Purgatory's cute little shackles. Do you think Waverly got to runnin' yet? Does she take after you like that? You should sure hope so, Nonna. Cause some of the boys are saying just downright  _nasty_ things..."   
  
     "Don't you  _dare_ threaten Waverly. You wanna use me to end the world, fine. But if you think you're going to touch one hair on her head and I'm not gonna find a way to  _kick_ your sorry-"  
  
      Bobo shot a gun off towards the sky, interrupting her.   
  
     "That's enough from the  _Earp Heir,_ don't you think? We've had generations of Earps making threats, don't forget. Your daddy, too. Your grand-daddy. All the way back to your ancestor, Wyatt Earp, himself. Don't know why you Earps always pick fights with us, he was the one that cursed you, after all." Bobo pressed the gun to Wynonna's temple, causing her to try and kick out at him again. "Isn't this how you do it? Quick, between the eyes? Send us back to Hell?"  
  
     "That's how I'm  _gonna_ do it." Wynonna ground out, absolutely certain her life was about to end. Days as the Earp Heir, and she'd already doomed the world. Cursed all of them.   
  
     "Well, you see, Wynonna. Quick and easy and between the eyes isn't really how we do it around here." He lowered the gun, smiling wide at her. "Have you met my  _dogs?"  
  
     _Strangled yelps and howls of the wolves Dolls' had first heard coming for the Homestead rang loud in her ears now, even as the demons themselves scrambled for cover in the scattered makeshift shelters surrounding Wynonna, wherever this place was.   
  
     For a moment, she closed her eyes. She just remembered; she remembered picking flowers with Waverly in the field as a small child, she remembered falling off her horse the first time she rode alone, she remembered the way Dolls looked at her when he promised he would give her Peacemaker back. When she let her eyes open, she threw any momentum she had  _up_ , pulling herself up the rope she was tied by, towards the branch of the tree she was dangling from- and it wasn't graceful or pretty or  _clean_ but she scrambled to hook her fingers over the bare wood, and pulled herself up into the tree, as jaws of werewolves snapped at where she'd been hanging. 


End file.
